Poor little white house – a pawn in a chess game Coppola is playing with an imaginary friend.

Why would he want to take what is ostensibly an historic house away from the area – the site of the Pan Am Expo – that makes it historic in the first place?

Why, to make some kind of point about Peace Bridge expansion!

If planners tear down some homes in the Columbus Parkway area to make way for the bridge project, then they’ll also have to tear down his “historic treasure,” Coppola said.

In the meantime, he vowed to push to have the building, which was built in the 1850s, designated a city landmark.

City officials have informed Coppola that any plan to move the vacant building would require permits from numerous departments.

Coppola, a former Buffalo Common Council member and state senator, said he’s not concerned that critics will brand him an obstructionist. He claimed the Peace Bridge expansion as it is currently proposed would be one of the most “colossal mistakes” the region has ever made. He said he feels compelled to take steps that might prod planners to revise blueprints.

Of course! Why, if the planners are perfectly willing to tear down a whole swath of neighborhood, this one little white house – outside of its historical context – will make them think twice, by gum!

Oh, and also he calls PBA director Ron Reinas”[t]his interloper from Port Colborne, Ont.” who “has an agenda that needs to be exposed.” Rather than expose it, Coppola is satisfied merely to hurl the insinuation without follow-through, evidence, or back-up of any kind:

Who are the friends of the authority who will really benefit from more dust, more fumes, more trucks?

Now, I don’t know if brake dust emissions have ever been measured or subjected to testing in any way, but my gut tells me that’s a losing argument.

Given that it costs an awful lot of money to move a building – money that Coppola probably doesn’t have, or doesn’t want to spend – can we think of some more non-sequiture uses for that pretty little bargaining chip on Delaware?

Maybe we can threaten to throw it in the Lake if the state doesn’t pass the Great Lakes Compact.

Maybe we can threaten to move it next to the Skyway to demand that they both be demolished.

Maybe we can place it, stud by stud, inside the Central Terminal to highlight its plight.

Not that im a fan of the peace bridge plaza, but all this has me worried about Als mental health.

first off, the pan am house was at best an support structure, with little of the architectual flourish of the pan am as a whole. While it is worth preserving, it isnt the Darwin Martin House, nor is it the Richardson Towers.

secondly, moving the building would be very very very very expensive.

Thirdly, it would remove the building from the context of the Pan Am grounds, futher reducing its historic value.

finally, who holds a building hostage? that is just silly. its like a child holding their breath to get their way.

I read with great interest the letter that was sent to
Commissioner Richard Tobe in regards to my little white Pan Am
House, and in how you were outraged with my capricious threats
regarding it. Sam, let me tell you a little story.

I was born down on 58 Dante Place, just across from Memorial
Auditorium and parked behind me, one block away, was the
Canadiana known as the Crystal Beach Boat. At that time I was
10 years old and didn’t know too much about eminent domain. But
I did know sorrow, because I watched my parents and grandparents
forced to vacate through eminent domain a building they loved.
We all had to move out. We started over and bought a house on
Hudson Street, where I used to play baseball on the corner of
Busti and Porter Avenue and could to walk to Front Park and the
River.

Through the years Sam as I got older, married and raised my
three children, I got into the restaurant business and named the
restaurant Shane’s after my son whom you know. Then one day in
the 1970’s the government came along and started its Light Rail
Transit Project. It was six miles long, costing 100 million
dollars per mile. They didn’t use eminent domain to take my
building or the many other thriving businesses along Main
Street. They didn’t have to. The once wholesome district
became infected with a creeping blight, slowly choking the
business community and forcing me to close Shane’s in 1982 which
left me in severe debt. This was the impetus that drove me into
public life, to stop and to correct the destruction of our dear
City.

Sam, I want to bring you some peace of mind (something you are
not willing to give the residents in the Columbus Parkway
community). I have no intention of tearing down my little white
Pan Am House but I do plan to move it from where it stands now.

I am going to move my little white house, originally built in
the 1850’s, to a property on Columbus Parkway, a beautiful,
vibrant community looming under the umbrella of condemnation
with which I’ve been all too familiar since boyhood.

I am going to move my little white house because (as only one of
the two buildings still extant from the 1901 Exposition) I think
the West Side will be the perfect resting place for such a
historical landmark. The little white Pan Am House will be
right at home along side an Olmsted Park, the street’s many
architecturally significant houses, and will be at the heart of
an energetic community that my entire family, beginning with my
grandparents, loved so much. It will overlook the fields that I
played baseball in as a kid and the River that I swam in.

What is the final hurrah for the political treatment of such a
historic treasure? I think it should be an integral part of our
lives, and the lives of our children, and the lives of our
grandchildren. I think it should enrich in this beautiful
Columbus Parkway neighborhood and be a beacon for the entrance
to our lovely City of Buffalo.

Sam, since you were so initially outraged at my mention of the
fact that I would tear it down, I hope you will now join me in
supporting preservation of not only the Pan Am House but all the
houses now endangered on Columbus Parkway. The wrecking ball
should not crush one blade of grass in this historic
neighborhood. Our legacy as government officials will thrive or
die with the demolition of this community.

I’ll be waiting to hear from you, Sam.

Best Regards,
Alfred T. Coppola

Dear Commissioner Tobe: Thank you for sharing with me your
detailed response to Mr. Coppola’s most recent correspondence.
The people of the City of Buffalo are fortunate to have such an
exceptional public servant working for their city. Sincerely,
Sam Hoyt

You applied for a demolition permit (application # 113466) and
an asbestos removal permit (application # 113464) on October 22,
2007 for the property at 1950 Delaware Ave. In accordance with
the Buffalo Charter and Code, the demolition application was
referred to the Buffalo Preservation Board for its comments. The
Preservation Board advised me by letter dated November 16, 2007
that it recommended that a demolition permit not be issued. I
wrote to you on December 12, 2007 advising you of the
Preservation Board’s recommendation and of two letters that I
had received. One letter was from the New York State
Preservation Office and one letter was from Assemblyman Hoyt. I
enclosed all three letters with my letter to you. I advised you
that I was “considering if I should issue or deny the issuance
of a demolition permit for 1950 Delaware Ave?” I advised you
that I wanted to provide you with an opportunity to comment
prior to my decision. You called me on December 28, 2007 and
indicated that you had received my letter, you were not prepared
to discuss the matter, but you would schedule an appointment. No
such appointment has been scheduled. As you know, we have not
issued a demolition permit.

On January 24, 2008.you copied me on an e-mail that you sent to
Assemblyman Hoyt in which you advised him that you “?have no
intention of tearing down my little white Pan Am House, but I do
plan to move it from where it stands now.”

As a result, through this communication, I officially notify you
that your application for a demolition permit (#113466) at 1950
Delaware Avenue is hereby revoked at your request.

Please advise me on the status of your application for an
asbestos removal permit. This permit will have to be closed out
or cancelled.

Should you wish to move the house, it will be necessary for you
to apply for the required permits. I wish to remind you that the
movement of a structure is a complex and potentially dangerous
matter that requires the coordination of a number of agencies
and the acquisition of a number of permits from both this
department and other city departments. It might also be
necessary to remove overhead utility service. This would require
the permission of the owner of such utilities.

Should you wish to demolish the property instead of moving it,
it will be necessary for you to reapply for a permit since
permit #113466 is revoked.

As you no doubt know, there are many in our community who
believe the property at 1950 Delaware Ave is of importance to
our cultural and historical past. We expect that the property
will be maintained in accordance with applicable law. Any
attempt to move it or demolish it will receive the scrutiny
which such an action deserves.

“I was born down on 58 Dante Place, just across from Memorial
Auditorium and parked behind me, one block away, was the
Canadiana known as the Crystal Beach Boat. At that time I was
10 years old and didn’t know too much about eminent domain.”

Hard to imagine that Alfred T. was, even for a little while, a state representative.

Does anyone know the purpose of this building during the Pan Am? I can’t imagine it was any sort of key element, since it was built in the 1850s (according to A.T.C.) and the Pan Am construction came several decades later.

I’m surprised that Alfie didn’t come up with this hair brained scheme back in 1985 when he was on the Common Council. Back then he was lead obstructionist trying to move Heaven and Earth to prevent Dunn Tire park (nee Pilot Field) from getting built. One of the tactics being employed then by Coppola and the Tielman crowd was to try and find some historical significance to any one of the few rundown structures on the site, have then declared historic shrines thus getting the ballpark plans killed.

Gratefully these morons were not successful. Of course, come Opening Day 1988 guess who was trying to horn in on the ribbon cutting and get front and center into the photo opp?

This guy is a few pieces of chicken short of a picnic basket. Amazing how he still manages to get the pub; like that cock Tielman, just ignore Coppola and he goes away.

Al is clearly hungry for attention. I am surprised the sNews continues to give him front local page recognition for his non-sense when so many other tremendous/positive matters are developing in the city.